Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Temperature (°C)
Time (minutes)
51.7
470.0
54.4
170.0
57.2
60.0
60.0
22.0
62.8
7.5
65.6
2.8
68.3
1.0
Table 6.
Temperatures and timings to kill yeasts in sugar syrup
Unlike last spring when you started off with nucleus hives or package bees or even a
swarm, you now have overwintered colonies to look after. Spring is when the whole
shooting match starts again. The queen begins to lay (she has probably been laying since
around mid-December), but now her egg-laying rate increases. The colonies build up
and swarming pressures arise and are dealt with. You increase the number of colonies
if you didn't do this in the autumn, and so the year gradually repeats itself. Except that
no two years are ever the same. The bees follow the seasonal variations in temperature,
rainfall and flower availability and, generally, ignore your requests for order. Yet again,
therefore, you must go with the flow and try to organize things to your own advantage
and to the advantage of your bees. So, when do you start and what do you do?
The spring management of overwintered colonies
As the daytime temperatures increase, the winter cluster will break up. During a warm
sunny day in February/March (September in the south) when the bees are flying
strongly, lift off the lid and have a look into the hive. Look at the brood to ensure that
the queen is healthy and laying eggs and that there is brood of all ages in the brood nest.
The bees will most likely have moved up into the top box, and it is useful at this stage to
reverse the boxes. If there are no eggs, the queen has failed. If she is still alive she should
be killed and the hive united with a healthy stock.
